This invention relates to articles of clothing, and more particularly to protective clothing adapted to be worn in places wherein the user needs protection against occupational hazards such as exposure to blood and other potentially infectious agents which might splash on user's clothes and/or be absorbed by his skin. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to the protective garments which can find broad application in health care industry and in work environments where the employee may come into contact with materials which are biohazardous.
Protective garments have long been in use in health care facilities, funeral homes, chemical industry facilities and other work stations. The main purpose of the garments is to protect the skin and clothing of the user from the harmful effects of occupational exposure to blood, other infectious agents and bio hazardous materials. Paper disposable coats and cloth lab coats utilized in health care facilities, chemical laboratories and the like suffer from the same major disadvantage: they are expensive, increase environmental hazardous waste and in the case of cloth lab coats absorb rather than repel harmful fluids. The present invention has been specifically designed for but not limited to the specified use of a protective garment as outlined in OSHA's Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1910.1030 (effective date for compliance of Personal Protective Equipment--Jul. 6, 1992), which states "Personal protective equipment must not allow blood or other potentially infectious material to pass through to worker's clothing, skin, or mucous membrane."
Additional problems often encountered with the use of disposable garments is a sheer bulk of disposable waste which must be treated in accordance with rigid safety regulations. As a result, there exists a need for a protective garment which would provide a true fluid barrier to harmful substances and which can be cleaned for subsequent reusal instead of disposal after the original contamination.
The present invention, therefore, contemplates provision of a protective garment which can provide a barrier to harmful fluids and which can be cleaned a number of times.